Dear Sue

I don't know how long you are in Buenos Aires, or whether you will have the chance to see other places in the country, but here's what we did over Christmas and New Year.

BA is very much like a European city, so there's no need to be nervous after Australia and NZ! It's as expensive as England or America: some things more so. Take time to wander round San Telmo: mostly full of antique shops, and there is an interesting covered market for vegetables etc. El Caminito, in La Boca, has very colourful painted houses, and is the home of the tango: beware the very smelly river nearby! You can also take a train from El Retiro station to Tigre, which is an area honeycombed with canals and summer houses, where you can take nice boat trips (very cheap). If you like cats, you should visit the Botanic Garden (between Scalabrini Ortiz and Plaza Italia underground stations), which is full of them: the zoo is opposite, and you can feed the llamas there.

If you have more time, you could visit Iguazu Falls (two hours by plane from BA). It takes a day to explore these properly from the Argentine side: it is a very well run national park with good instructions about where to go, on foot or by boat. Another place, this time to the south, is the Peninsula Valdes in Patagonia. This is very wild, and takes at least a day to explore properly: you will need either to take an organised trip or to hire a car and start early in the morning. Places worth seeing are Punta Delgada, where you see seals, and Punta Norte, for penguins. Warning: the roads are all gravel, and should not be tried in the dark. If you don't get to either of those places, you could stop at Salina Grande (in the middle of the peninsula), where for a peso you can see an extensive and shining salt lake surrounded by eucalyptus, and be rewarded with a complimentary Coke and biscuits.

Have a good time, wherever you go.

Simon Tabbush and family.